"…I was
learning the hard way about how to be a publisher and probably spending
way too much time looking at web sites and programming than I should
have in response to that. Anyway, one day I came across this web site
called Joel on Software, which was run by a guy with strong
opinions and an unusual, clever writing style, along with a willingness
to take on the conventional wisdom. In particular, he was writing this
ongoing series about how bad most user interfaces were—mostly because
programmers by and large knew, as Joel and I would say, using the same
Yiddish–derived NYC vernacular that we both share, “bupkis” about what
users really want. And I, like many, was hooked both by the series and
the occasional random essay that Joel wrote. And then I had this
epiphany: I'm a publisher, I like reading his stuff, why not turn it
into a book?…" — Gary Cornell, Cofounder, Apress